Simple Nightmare
by Ittam the Great
Summary: Alphonse and Ed check into a hotel. Alphonse finally gets to go to sleep, and he's still in a suit of armor! What is the true definition of a nightmare? Are they really as scary as the seem?


Simple Nightmare

In a decent size hotel in central, the brothers of gold checked in. They didn't really have much to carry. Ed only carried one suitcase. After checking in, the brothers strolled up to their room, 35. While Al was normally walking, Ed was dragging himself on the ground. He was complaining about the colonel, as usual.

"Stupid Colonel Sarcasm! He thinks he knows everything. Some day, I'll deck him in his smug face!" Alphonse sighed; He really didn't want to hear his brother whine and complain.

"Brother, don't say things like that. It will only make things worse between you."

"Like it can get any worse." Ed countered. "I have to deal with the Colonel's nonsense almost everyday! You don't know what it's like Al!" Alphonse sighed again. He knew what his brother meant when he said that. He did not mean it in an insulting way, but it still bothered him. He decided to ignore the feeling. After all, brother meant well.

When they finally got to the room, Ed's face showed pure disappointment. Al's would too, but he can't show any because of his 'condition.' The brothers both sighed. It was a relatively small room, quite cramped, filled with unnecessary furniture. Al looked in the corner. There was an extremely tiny window that would never have light through it. There was also two miniature beds in that corner. Al could live with a small bed for a while. After all, he could never sleep. When Al looked at his brother, he was steaming with anger. Literally, Al could feel the steam come off him, and he was a suit of armor! Faster than lightning, the golden haired alchemist ran back to the lobby. Al could hear his brother yelling and screaming.

"Brother, what are you doing now?" Al really didn't feel like going down stairs to stop his brother from maiming the staff. He just wanted to lay in the corner for the rest of the day. He didn't feel well. He knew something was missing, but he didn't know what it was. Al went down to see people running away from the blond terror.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING A PIPSQUEAK MIDGET WHO YOU CAN RIP-OFF BY GIVING HIM A ROOM SO SMALL A MOUSE WOULD THINK IT'S CRAMPED! TREAT ME WITH RESPECT YOU MINDLESS BELLHOPS!" Several yelps of "Sorry!" rang through the air. Al once more sighed. This is going to be a long day. After a couple of minutes of feeling the wrath of the alchemist, the staff of the hotel moved the brothers to a much bigger room.

"Ah, this is better, right Al?" Ed said, taking off his boots.

"Yeah." Al said quietly.

"Anything wrong Al?" Even if Al wanted to hide it, Ed would quickly find out if something bothered him. It really make him happy that he has such a awesome brother.

"No, nothing is wrong, I'm just tired." Ed looked at his brother, his eyes showing deep concern, but Ed shrugged it off.

"I'll be going to bed Al, so wake me up if you need anything." Ed then took of his clothes, and proceeded to go I bed. He untied his braid and plopped on the bed.

"Goodnight Al!" he yelled.

"Goodnight brother!" Al chirped, confirming to Ed that his brother was okay. Ed then turned off the lights.

Alone in darkness, Al tried to roll his glowing eyes back. It was the closest thing he could do to sleep. When Al rolled his eyes back, he found himself surrounded by purple mist. "Am I at the gate, or am I really sleeping?" He then sat down slowly. Oddly, he felt himself touch the floor. He looked down at his legs. His legs were human legs. Gasping for air, he looked at his hands. They were shaking. Al had his body back.  
>" Wow…" Al said stunned. He still couldn't believe he had his body back. "I must be dreaming." Slowly, Al then stood up and began to walk around. Al had decided that he did NOT get his body back, but finally got to sleep. <em>This must be where all my forbidden memories are.<em>Before he could think a second thought, a blast of white light flew at him. He then was floating, his body lighter than air. Al closed his eyes. It was calm. He could finally relax from the world. That is what sleep was. A place to get away from the real world, to you own reality.

Al took a deep breath. He then smelled the smell of grass and oil. He jumped up. He was in his hometown, Resembool. He ran up to the flowers, smelling their beautiful scent. It reminded him of the days brother, Winry and him were playing in the fields. He even found a tiny kitten. Al picked up the cat. It was so fuzzy and warm. It made him squeal with happiness. Taking the kitty, which he named Mr. Butterscotch, he went to see his childhood friend, Winry. She looked tired, in her rose pink nightgown that hung loosely from her slender body. Al blushed, cursing himself from thinking that way. That was his friend and nothing more. His brother and himself had fought over Winry several times. Al knew Ed liked Winry, and Winry liked him back. Al chuckled, thinking of how obvious his brother was.

"Hey! Are you just going to sit there or are you coming inside?" Al smiled, and ran up to the house to greet Winry. When Al went up to Winry he could feel water droplets on his shoulder.

"Winry, are you crying?" Tears swelled up in her eyes as she looked at Al. "Oh, Al, I'm just happy you made it out alive. I don't want a 21 year old getting killed. Not now. You're so young..." Winry seemed to be repeating these word to Al over and over. Before Al could talk Winry pushes him inside. _Wait, in this world I'm 21?_ _That's awesome! _They went to the table and there was dinner ready. Al and Winry sat down. He could tell Granny was gone by the way her picture was surrounded by roses and candles. He tried to keep himself from crying. It would be hard to be Winry, with everyone from her family dead. He looked at the table and saw a couple of loaves of bread and some tomato soup. It was simple. _Looks delicious._

Alphonse thought. When his eyes fell on Winry she still had a stream of tears running down her face. Al couldn't stand it. He couldn't see her crying, not like this. He went over to Winry and wiped away the tears with his hand. He then gave her a napkin and brushed her hair aside. Al then looked in Winry's eyes. They were the same bright blue hue as the ocean. Al couldn't help himself but to get lost in her eyes. He could tell Winry was also under the spell of his hypnotic golden eyes.

"Winry, are you alright?" he asked.

"Yeah Al, I'm fine. I'm just happy to see you." "Mew!" a small sound came from Alphonse's pocket.

"Al, it's a cat isn't it?" Winry growled.

"Yeah...what can I say? I love cats!" Al chuckled. Winry began to giggle as well. _Wow, this had to be one of the only times I actually had time with Winry. It was probably the only time he will get to do this because of his brother. Wait, brother!_

"Winry, do you know where Ed is?" he calmly stated. Winry looked surprised, and turned her head away from Al. "Winry, where's Ed! Where Brother?" He tried searching her eyes for an answer, but got none. She replied "I thought you knew, weren't you in the war with him." Al's heart raced. It went faster and faster with only one thought. _Where is my brother? _

Winry states, "Al, I don't know. One day he was off with you, the next thing I know you're here asking about him." Winry's dead expression almost seemed like she was blaming him. Al didn't like this, not at all. Darkness then swarms the room.

"Winry, what's happening?" She didn't respond after the room was drowned in shadows. Click! The lights came back on. "Winry, are you okay? He froze. He heard his voice echo. Slowly, he looked back at his hand. Metal. They were solid metal. He was back in the armor. He wanted to scream. He wanted to cry. He finally felt complete when he had his body back. He felt brother him him were done. They were now back to square one. He looked at Winry. She was still emotionless as she was a few minutes ago. The tension between the two almost gave him a choked feeling. The silence was broken with a couple of barks.

"Arf, arf!" Den walks in the room with a yellow letter in his hand. Den hands the letter to Winry, and laid on the floor covering his face with his paws. Winry opens the letter and gasps. She throws the letter at Alphonse. He picks up the letter. He began to read. Just after reading the first sentence, he couldn't breathe. It was a military report. Ed died, from trying to create a philosopher's stone. The experiment went bad. Al looked at the report in a daze. He couldn't believe it. Brother...was dead. He noticed when he put the paper down, there was something else in the envelope. He looked inside it. It was a letter from brother.

It read, "Hey, Al. If you got this it probably means I'm dead. Sigh, sorry Al. I'm really sorry, but you're amour was about to reject your soul. I can't let that happen! I had to do it Al, I had to. I regret ever putting you in that armor Al, and everything I do always ends up wrong. Al, I know you probably hate me for everything I did, but I want you to know one thing. You'll always be my little brother."

Al was crying just reading this letter. He was just a boy a couple of minutes ago. He then just recently turned back into armor. Brother didn't need to die! This wasn't a dream, a place of your own reality. This is a place of thoughts. Everything from reality is here, always in your mind, never able to escape it. Al ran out the door, not even saying goodbye to Winry. He ran and ran, not caring what he ran into. Not caring where he was going. Only caring for his lost brother Ed. He runs into darkness, his tears the only source of light falling to the floor. The darkness began to eat away at Alphonse.

"No! No!" he cried. The darkness engulfs him.

Alphonse wakes up in a startled panic. Darkness swarms his thoughts as he tries to wake up. He sees his brother looking at him with worried eyes from the bed.

"Al, are you okay? You were making such a noise I couldn't sleep." Ed gets off the bed to sit besides Alphonse.

"Sorry brother. It was just a nightmare." Al commented. Ed looked upset, and then sighed.

"You know Al, I have nightmares too. Nightmares can really be really ugly sometimes, but they also are some sort of a recap in our lives. They tell us what we're thinking, things that bother us and things we're afraid of. Nightmares should be learned from, not feared." Ed smiled. "Remember Al, you can tell me and ask me anything."

If Al wasn't in the armor, he would be smiling. "Thanks brother."

"You're welcome Al."

"One question, brother. Do you like Winry?"

"Uh..hey Al, I'm really tired so we should go to sleep! Good night!"

"Brother!" Alphonse then hears the loud snores of his brother. Al giggles. "Goodnight brother!"

**AU: I wanted to thank the awesome people who edited my story and the reader too. I hope you enjoyed it!**  
><strong>Fullmetal Alchemist belongs to Funimation, Viz Media and Hiromu Arakawa. I do not own the rights to the idea or the character. All characters belong to their owners.<strong>


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